Reds offense batters, bruises Bere

The ball came screaming off the bat of Cincinnati's Sean Casey and Cubs pitcher Jason Bere had nowhere to hide.

The veteran right-hander dropped to the ground as if he had been hit with a right cross.

"I can think of better places to get hit, but at least it hit just on the [leg] bone and it didn't hit any of the kneecap or anything," Bere said after the Reds' 8-6 victory Wednesday in front of 32,689 at Wrigley Field.

"He's OK. It's not a fracture. It's a deep bone bruise," manager Don Baylor said of the third-inning liner that resulted in a double for Casey. "He is scheduled to start Monday, but I doubt that very seriously."

Baylor said he likely will turn to relievers Juan Cruz or Carlos Zambrano to fill Bere's spot in the starting rotation.

"It might be one or the other, but I know it's not going to be Jason," Baylor said.

Bere (1-9), who is winless in his last 13 starts, gave up a home run to Todd Walker on the first pitch of the game.

Fred McGriff's ninth-inning homer off Silva was his 14th of the year. But the Reds took greater advantage of the 15 m.p.h. breeze that was blowing out Wednesday.

"[Haynes'] whole gig is the backdoor curveball and he didn't make any mistakes with his fastball," said Hundley, who was 2-for-4 including his seventh home run in the sixth inning. "He just got tired toward the end."